Eight things lottery winners won’t tell you

All Aussies dream of one day winning the lottery and living the high life, but few of us are aware about the unwanted side-effects that comes with a big win.

While winning a big sum of money would certainly get rid of many of our daily stresses, it also brings a flood of new ones.

In fact, a recent report on lottery winners by Statistics Brain found that only 55 per cent of lottery winners said they were actually happier after winning the jackpot.

Also read: 18 things more likely to happen than winning the lottery

Clearly, winning the lottery brings with it unwanted side effects - here are 8 things that lottery winners don’t tell you about.

1. Money doesn’t last

Whether they take home a million or a billion, a shocking 44 per cent of winners spend their entire winnings within five years, according to Statistics Brain, while there is a 90 per cent probability that any new family wealth will have dissipated by the third generation.

2. Prepare to be exploited

Whether its by new friends or even old friends and family, the newly-rich are often given an unpleasant amount of attention from people wanting handouts.

Around 29 per cent of winners have said that family approached them asking for money after they hit the jackpot.

Also read: Aussie staff become instant millionaires after Nasdaq debut

3. It’s difficult to manage a new fortune

Having too much money can lead to huge financial and accountancy headaches.

Finding the right person to help organise, save and invest new-found money is a difficult task on its own.

4. You still feel poor

Even winners of $10 million on the lottery suddenly become the poor outside when they’re in a room with those who won $100 million. It’s all relative.

5. Prepare to become an outsider

Being suddenly worth a significant sum more than any of your friends or family immediately makes you an outside, but as a winner of your new-found riches, those who inherited their money often look down on lottery winners with disdain. 

Also read: 27 ways you waste your money

6. You can quickly become ‘lost’

As humans, our minds and bodies thrive on routine and repetition and while it may initially be fun not to have anything which forces you out of bed in the morning, it can also fast track you to mental unhappiness.

7. Too much time

While quitting your day job and diminishing your responsibilities could affect your mental unhappiness, it can also mean you become bored quickly.

With no stimulation or challenges your daily life can become mundane and dangerously depressing.

Also read: 16 simple ways to save money every month

8. Purchased become unsatisfying

Where once upon a time lottery winners had to scrimp and save for those luxurious purchases, expensive dinners and luxury holidays, a bigger bank account balance means these things are very easily accessible, and in the meantime no longer hold any sense of personal fulfillment.